Small Books Are Beautiful
When you visit Susan Hensel Gallery, to peruse the current exhibition, Reader’s Art 9: Small, Smaller, Smallest, you will find a basket of white cotton gloves next to the door. Slip on a pair and examine these anti-tomes as books are meant to be experienced: by turning the pages.
Art books seldom tell stories in the usual way; rather, they lead their handlers down impressionistic paths, suggesting ideas and narratives, not dictating them. The 22 artists featured here know how to play with the book as art form, and they do so in a wide variety of ways, while answering the call to keep their art pithy. Some of these books use no words at all; some don’t even use images, only form. Holding one of them in the palm of your hand invites you to experience a kind of childlike pleasure that larger objects simply cannot convey.
Accompanying the exhibition are the visual journals of students from Hudson High School in Wisconsin. Terrifically colorful and chaotic, they offer a glimpse into the creative adrenaline of teenage artists.
Susan Hensel doesn’t keep her gallery open regular hours, but she is very accommodating in making appointments. Through April 15 at Susan Hensel Gallery, 3441 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis. 612/722-2324.
—SP
